With a new CVS Pharmacy location being prepared for building construction at the intersection of State Road 46 West and U.S. 231/State Roa 67 South, ground remains unbroken for an Indiana Department of Transportation project to realign Franklin Street into the current three-way intersection. Letting for the project is scheduled for April of 2011. (Staff Photo)
Despite the fall of snow and bone-chilling temperatures Tuesday and more so Wednesday, crews remained hard at work for Gilliate general contractor and project manager Richard Gibbs on the new CVS Pharmacy in Spencer.

The majority of recent work has centered on prepping the eventual building’s base and paving a large parking lot area for the 13,225 square-foot location.

“The new CVS/pharmacy will replace our current location in Spencer with a larger, more convenient store,” CVS Public Relations Director Mike DeAngelis explained. “Our new store will be about twice the size of our existing location. We will relocate all employees of our current Spencer store to the new location once it is ready to open next year. Because the store will be larger it will have a larger selection of merchandise, so it will generate additional tax revenue. It will also better serve the community with its more convenient and accessible location. We will make additional hires if necessary once the store is ready to open.”

Crews from Gilliatte general contractors of Indianapolis have been busy prepping the parking lot and building base of the new CVS Pharmacy location in Spencer. (Staff Photo)
According to Gibbs, the store will be finished by February 23.

“Weather permitting, we will see the final coat of asphalt going on in the next day or two, and should be starting the block. If the weather holds out, once we start the block this week, we should be up in about three weeks,” he explained. “In the next five weeks, we should be under roof, weather permitting. Once I can get the block up, things will fly, the steel will go up after that and then the roof. If I can, in the meantime, I’d like to go ahead and start landscaping also, try to get some of this dirt to go away. You’ll see signs going up here soon. After we’re under roof in about five weeks, it will only take four or five weeks after that and we’ll be done.”

Eventual plans also call for curving the current roadway of West Franklin Street behind the new CVS lot at a nearly 90-degree angle, and adding approximately 275 feet of new roadway to connect into the stoplight intersection of West Morgan Street. The remaining land formerly used for Franklin Street will then be donated back to the landowners affected by the construction. The estimated $100,000 project addition will be paid for by the Town of Spencer, with landowner and CVS Pharmacy developer Don Tharp set to reimburse the town $62,500 of those expenses. However, scheduling for the road work is up in the air, with letting planned for April 2011 by INDOT.